Pass the hanky
Its weird to think we can enjoy being sad, but sometimes films can cause the tears to flow, and we willingly give ourselves up to moment. Whether its an unexpected death, a t𓂃ragic parting, a missed opportunity or the end of an affair, the violins kick in and the tissues come out. Its a tricky feat for a director to pull off, because touching and emotional can so easil📖y fall over into sentimental and mawkish. But the masters of the craft can orchestrate our feelings with the skill of conductor. Warning: you may want to remove any contact lenses or mascara.
50. Avatar (2009)
The Moment: Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) launches an attack on holy Na'vi territory in order to clear the land for mining🎶 operations.
Get Your Tissues Ready: The Na'vi Hometree--a central hub for Pando🌳ra's natural neural network--is felled.
If It Was Played For Laughs: The Na'vi fashion the tree's bran♎ches into massive clubs and smackdown the humans Captain Caveman-style.
49. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
The Moment: Dying Satine (Nicole Kidman) breaks script to sing secret love song 'Come What May,' promptin♐g Christian (Ewan McGregor) to risk being shot by joining her on stage.
Get Your Tissues Ready: The perf♚ormance is too much and Satine, plagued by tuberculosis, dies in Christian's arms.
If It Was Played For Laughs: Satine's death literally brings the house down, because her collap﷽se triggers a Mousehunt-style ripple of destruction across the stage.
48. Billy Liar (1963)
The Moment: Billy Fi▨sher (Tom Courtenay) arranges to leave his Northern town to trav𝓡el to London with vivacious Liz (Julie Christie).
Get Your Tissues Ready: Billy jumps off the train to fetch milk but, fearful of the unknown, hesitates befo⛦re getting back aboard and it departs without him.
If It Was Played For Laughs: He manages to get back on ꩲtime...but he's boarded the train to Glasgow, not ꦰthe one to London.
47. Gran Torino (2008)
The Moment: Grizzled war veteran Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) pays a visit to the gang who have terrorised his neighbou♋rs, and is shot and killed.
Get Your Tissues Ready: It is revealed thꦓat the silver object Walt was carrying wasn't a gun, but a lighter. He deliberateﷺly allowed himself to be killed to ensure the gang was arrested for murder.
If It Was Played For Laughs: Walt would be carrying a Pez dispenser.
46. Stand By Me (1986)
The Moment: Remembering his childhood, the adult Gordie Lachance (Richard Dr♔eyfuss) reveals that best mate Chris Chambers was later stabbed and killed.
Get Your Tissues Ready: Gordie chokes up as he tells us, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had wh😼en Iꦅ was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
If It Was Played For Laughs: The camera pans to reveal that Gordie's current friend is wit𝐆h him and saying, "Well,ꩵ thanks a bunch.
45. Cinema Paradiso (1989)
The Moment: Film director Salvatore Di Vita (Jacques Perrin) pays a visit to the Cinema Para🔯diso, the movie theatre he frequented as a child.
Get Your Tissues Ready: He watches a reel of movie kisses cut by the village priest but se๊cretly spliced together by the cinema's late projectionist, Alfredo (Philippe Noiret).
If It Was Played For Laughs: The film i♛s a compilation of people falling over.
44. Don't Look Now (1973)
The Moment: John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) chases a red-coated fi🧔gure which he thinks is the spiri♎t of his dead daughter along the canals of Venice.
Get Your Tissues Ready: It's not his daughter. It's a knife-wielding midget serial killer. Uh✨-oh.
If It Was Played For Laughs: It really woul🌳d be his daughter, and she'd tickle her dad with a feather.
43. The Iron Giant (1999)
The Moment: 🧸When the Army launches a missile to destroy the Iron Gian♏t (Vin Diesel) that would also blow up the town of Rockwell, he flies off to intercept it.
Get Your Tissues Ready: Remembering the les𝄹sons his friend Hogarth told him, the Iron Giant pretends to be Superman as the missile b♎lows him to bits.
If It Was Played For Laughs: He really would become Superman, and swat the m💧issiles away.
42. Limelight (1952)
The Moment: Calvero the clown (Charlie Chaplin) suffers a♔ heart attack after his triumphant comeback performance with his old partner ▨(Buster Keaton).
Get Your Tissues Ready: The show must go on. As Calvero dies, his muse Terry (Claire Bloom), a balleri𒊎na, has to t✃ake the stage.
If It Was Played For Laughs: The obvious tribute, as Terry's dancing starts to become Chaplinesque until she falling onto her ༒arse more often than she is pirouetting.
